A 2014 remastered port of Tomb Raider (2013) has finally made its way to PC via a quiet launch on the Microsoft Store.
Some background. In 2013, Crystal Dynamics developed a Tomb Raider reboot featuring a younger Lara Croft surviving a dangerous island adventure. That game was originally released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Then, in 2014, a slightly remastered and improved port of that reboot was released on PS4 and Xbox One under the name Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. However, PC players never received this updated remaster. But now, a decade later, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is available on PC with little fanfare.
On April 24, as spotted by Reddit, the Definitive Edition of the rebooted Tomb Raider was shadowdropped on the Microsoft Store with seemingly zero warning or announcement. I didn’t get an email. Kotaku didn’t get an email. And checking the official Tomb Raider Twitter account, the most recent tweet I can see is advertising a…duck version of Lara?
Perhaps the reason why nobody has officially announced this news is because, according to people who have played Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition on PC, it’s kind of a mess. Folks have reported issues starting the game as well as missing animations, wonky physics, performance issues, and other problems.
Kotaku has contacted Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics about the port.
For now, though, it seems that the Definitive Edition isn’t quite ready for showtime on PC. Hopefully, it can be patched up and released on Steam so this version of Tomb Raider (2013) can be available to more people.
But I also hope that the original version of the game currently for sale on Steam isn’t removed from the storefront, as many players might prefer that version and mods for it likely won’t work with the new port. For now, we can only wait and see. I guess you can also buy that duck version of Lara Croft, too, if you want. I wouldn’t.
